REFURBISHMENT of the detention cells at Rathkeale Garda Station will form part of the overall project to provide a new Garda Station in Newcastle West.
Responding to a query from Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins, local Garda Superintendent John Deasy said that the work was progressing on schedule.
To facilitate the work at Newcastle West, the district office was moved to the to the administrative block at Askeaton Garda Station in mid-November while the Crime office transferred to Rathkeale Garda Station.
Supt Deasy said that the cell refurbishment at Rathkeale was on a priority list drawn up by estate management and the Office of Public Works (OPW). The work is scheduled to start in January and to be finished by Easter.
Other services provided at Newcastle West Garda Station will be moved to the Probation Service Office at Churchtown, Newcastle West.
The site will be cleared next November and construction work is expected to take 18 months.
Supt Deasy told Deputy Collins that the OPW is in the process of appointing a design team and this will be completed in January.
The new two-storey building is expected to be ready for use in mid 2021 and once the full design team and an architect is appointed, the project will be reviewed before it is presented to the OPW and Garda headquarters.
